The Moonlight Trilogy 1: Stroke of Midnight
by ivy4000
Summary: When the star spirit that simply goes by the name 'Geno' returns to the Mushroom World to track down one of the most dangerous men in all worlds, Dimentio, who's back from the dead, he believes his job may be much easier than initially thought. But, all is not as it seems as a much deeper plot unfolds beneath moonlight's glare.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

?

Space:  
The final frontier.  
These are the voyages of the starship–**oh wait**–my mistake, wrong script.  
_Ahem,_

It was dark. Very dark, and very cold. It seemed like no living thing could exist here, in this strange, desolate place; and nothing did, for what sort of being could wish to exist in this world that could only be described as the very essence of nothing?

Suddenly, something broke the silence.

It was quiet, but just loud enough to hear– a strange sort of whirring noise.

In the next instant, the source could be found. A strange, dark being, almost like that of a cloud of deep gray and black gas. It came rushing at quite a high speed through the darkness, eventually slowing to a stop.

There it remained for several moments–the only sound in the entire area being the slow, quiet whirr erupting from the creature.

"_**Chaos...**_"

The voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and even the strange cloud seemed to jump slightly. It was a deep voice, that almost sounded like it was made of several hundred others.

The smoke suddenly twisted into a sort of coil before conglomerating back into a single shape. Then, a voice came from the strange cloud.

"Yess... Master..." it hissed, "why hath thou called me hither... Master..."

"_**Your subject,**_" the voice boomed, "_**his signature recently disappeared... what happened?**_"

The cloud, or rather, 'Chaos', hesitated to respond.

"Yess... the subject... he hath been eradicated..."

The strange voiced paused, and Chaos even seemed to shrink down slightly.  
Suddenly, the 'Master' growled.

"_**How did you let this happen,**_" it boomed, trying to keep its voice steady, "_**when you told me your plan could 'never fail'?!**_"

Chaos hesitated once more, the smoke dissipating slightly around the edges of its form.

"...I-it couldn't have been helped... Master..." it began, voice somewhat shaky.

"_**You know very well that it could have been helped you blubbering FOOL!**_"

Chaos shrank in size significantly, the cloud becoming very focused and tight, pieces of it floating off every few moments. Eventually, it slowly expanded back to its initial size.

"Y-...Yes... Master..." it hissed quietly, shaking a bit. "But..."

The voice seemed to sigh heavily with annoyance. "_**But what, Chaos?**_"

Chaos chuckled quietly, "But, my lord, I know of a way to try again... yess... a restart, if you would..."

The voice was silent for several moments. "_**...I'm listening.**_"

Chaos chuckled once more, "Yess... if only you'll give me enough power to allow the subject to escape the lady Jaydes's grasp..."

The Master paused once more, then slowly started chuckling. "_**...Yes, yes, I see what you're saying...**_"

"Yess... surely the subject has learned from his mistakes..."

"_**...We can use this... go on...**_"

Chaos seemed to be getting more and more excited, flying in strange patterns along with what it was saying. "Yess... indeed! There are many others who hath a hatred for the ones who eradicated the subject... if the subject can ally with them..."

"_**Who knows how much damage we could do...**_"

"Indeed! For what is a king without subjects to bear the burden? Erk- except you, of course, sire..."

"_**Now's not the time for complimentary, Chaos, just go on with your little speech.**_"

Chaos twitched, sinking back slightly. Its smoke figure seemed to nod in a strange way before continuing.

"After we get rid of that universe... thou couldst get straight to thine target... Master..."

The Master paused a moment, then began laughing. "_**Yes... yes! This just might work! Yes, dressed to impress, as always, Chaos...**_"

"Thanketh thou greatly, Master!"

"_**Yes... you will get your request. Now, I've important work to do... you may now take your leave.**_"

"Yess, Master..."

The smoke, conglomerating back into a single form, began to fly back the way it came.

"_**Hold up, Chaos!**_"

The smoke quickly came to a stop, pausing to hear what the Master had to say.

"_**If you screw up this time,**_" the Master began, voice dark, "_**then I will personally eradicate you.**_"

Chaos hesitated a moment.

"Y-yess, M-Master..."

And with that, Chaos was gone, and the black silence set in once more.

**Castle Bleck, 4 months prior**  
Chaos

"_You think this is the end?_" Dimentio hissed. "_This isn't finished..._"

This was pain like he'd never experienced before.

"_You can't... stop this now... You can't... escape..._"

It was unbearable, searing through him like the hottest fire in the core of the earth.  
"_I've been saving one last surprise..._"

This was it.

"_Ah ha ha ha ha ha..._" he cackled, the pain bubbling in his throat. "_**Ciao!**_"

There were several blinding flashes, and a pain like nothing the dimensional jester had ever thought possible, and everything was gone.


	2. Chapter 1: Lost

**Chapter 1: Lost**  
Dimentio

Falling. He was falling. Deeper, deeper, everything was black... or perhaps his eyes weren't open, whichever it was, he couldn't tell, nor did he care, for that matter.

Visions flew in front through his mind. A dark castle, a deep, dank cave, a ruined kingdom, a world of nothing, a black book, a dark cell, and a girl, with short, almost white blond hair and beautiful emerald green eyes.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, not caring who heard. His vision flashed, for what seemed like only an instant he was in a dark room, the only light blinding him through a door on the other end of the it, barely cracked open. In the next instant, the world flipped, quite literally, upside down, and everything went black.

Wait, no, this time his eyes _were_ closed.

He tried opening them, and was nearly blinded in that instant, but managed to cover his eyes with a black gloved hand. His hat dangled up, as did his poncho, and his head was spinning.

He looked around, pain constricting his ankles, not to mention the lack of movement whatever was holding him allowed. As his vision faded back into existence, he managed to look around, and saw that he was in...

...A forest.

And that's when it hit him.

He was hanging upside down.

He flailed a bit, barely mustering up the energy to do so, but to no avail. Instead of wasting his time, he lifted his head as far as he could, urging himself not to get dizzier than he already was.

A minute passed. Then five. Then ten. After what seemed to him like hours, the magician found himself unable to muster the energy to even hold his head up any longer. His muscles ached all over, and he had a blistering headache had plagued him since he'd opened his eyes

He let himself fall limp, letting out a tired sigh. Considering the circumstances, the chances of someone finding him were nil. He was too tired to try any longer, and let his arms dangle limply above his head, closing his eyes as he waited to drift unconscious.

He was extremely drained. Especially after...

...After...

His two tone eyes snapped open as memories came rushing back. The Heroes, the Void, his plans, his failure, all came flying back in that single, agonizing moment. He had to hold his breath to keep himself from screaming again, and after several moments of this, he let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

He lowered, or perhaps raised, his arms to his sides, positively seething with rage.  
How dare they ruin his plans?

He paused, thinking deeply. Perhaps they were right to think his plan was wrong... perhaps...

He was interrupted as a flood of pain invaded his skull cavity, leaving no room for any proper thoughts to escape their processor.

He clutched his forehead, reeling from the sudden pain. How could he work like this? _First thing's first,_ the jester thought, _I've got to get down from here. But..._

_...How?_

He hung there, pondering several ideas going through his pounding head, when he was blinded by the light of the Sun in his eyes. He scoffed, putting a hand in front of his face, causing him to sway slightly.

_Sshf!_

_What was that?_ Dimentio's eyes widened, and several thoughts flew through his mind on repeat: _I'm in a forest; there could be some kind of wild animal coming to attack me; I'm utterly powerless right now; I..._

_Sshf!_

Okay, now he was starting to panic.

_I've got to get out of here, I've just got to–_

Suddenly, a large shadow jumped down from the leaves and upper branches of the tree directly in front of him, landing in a branch about his eye level in what seemed to be a crouched position. The area directly under the tree's large leaves was too dark to see who, or _what_, had landed there, he simply knew three things: One, it looked vaguely humanoid, which could be a good or bad sign depending on which dimension he was in; Two, he was still hanging upside down and felt like he could faint at any second; Three, this thing, whatever it was, had eerily glowing white eye sockets.

He managed to regain enough composure to force his masked face to smile, pulling his arms to his sides once more.

"Hello, and who might you be–"

The figure, who had a somewhat deeper voice, chuckled, sitting on the branch with their legs crossed. Definitely humanoid. "You seem to be in a bit of a sticky situation there," the figure blinked, revealing kind mahogany irises looking at down at the jester.

His smile almost faltered, but held fast. He was silent.

The figure laughed again, "What, plumber got your tongue?"

That set him off. A look of shock replaced the confident smile Dimentio usually wore, and he stared up at the figure.

"Yes, I know about that," and Dimentio knew the figure was smirking even though he couldn't see him clearly. "_We_ all do."

"Who?!" the jester snapped, his hurting brain causing all his common sense to flood away in that single instant. "How do you know who I am?!"

"Let's see," the figure stood up, pacing down the tree branch, looking up and a bit to his right in a mocking way, "Dimentio, male, calls himself a magician, when really he's a sad excuse for a–"

"_**Don't**__ say it..._"

"_Clown._"

Dimentio was mad. Not just mad, he was angrier than he had been in years. Nobody, absolutely nobody called him a clown. He glared at the figure, unable to do anything but.

"I can see from that constipated expression on your face you're angry with me," the figure chuckled to himself, sitting on the branch once more, casting his mocking eyes towards the magician. "Now that we've come to a healthy agreement, do you want me to help you down, or leave you to the Buzzers?

"Fine!" Dimentio spat. "Just get me down from he–"

"Say please."

"_...What?_"

"Say please, and I'll help you down."

Dimentio was in shock. This had never happened before, but the fact that his blood was starting to fail its goal to get to the rest of his body was starting to go to his head.

"_...Please?_"

He said it with the tone of voice of somebody holding a dead fish.

The figure's eyes squinted ever so slightly, proving Dimentio's thesis that he was smirking. Then, all of a sudden, he heard a loud _Crack!_ As something hit whatever had him tied to the branch at a very high, piercing speed. Then another, and another.

"What are you–?!"

"Shut up and hold still or I might accidentally shoot the tip of your shoes off."

This new information caused Dimentio to shut up almost immediately.

Several more cracks, and a bit of a strangled snapping sound pierced Dimentio's ears.  
And then he was falling. Face first into the ground, in fact.

He reeled for several moments as the blood started to spread to the rest of his body once more, but he had landed hard, and his face hurt. His head was spinning, but at least he was on the ground. Good, solid ground. Of course, it was pure dirt, which didn't help him any more than it would normally, but at least it was solid.

Then, the figure dropped down in front of him, landing in a strong crouch before standing up in full and smirking down at the magician, and he was able to take in the person's full appearance.

Well, for a start, his joints were segmented, which wasn't something you'd really expect to see with most people. He wore dark mahogany boots, and a dark leather belt with what appeared to be an elliptical golden buckle with a star shape in the middle of it. Another thing he noted right off the bat was that the man didn't appear to be wearing pants, or anything covering up his physical body spare his belt, shoes, hat, and a large blue cape.

His cape... it was a clear, early evening sky sort of blue, and lined on the inside with a brilliant golden yellow. It was held together by two golden buttons, and the bottom was spiked. There were two similar spikes flaring out on the end of his collar. His hat was the same blue, with the same color yellow design on the front in a shape that somewhat resembled the holding end of a key. Two brilliant orange curls extended from underneath the right side of his hat.

He had a somewhat pointed nose, and eyes that poked out beneath the hat, with lines extending up slightly like his eyelids had their own joints, which Dimentio didn't doubt.. His ears poked out beneath the sides of the hat, and didn't appear complete, like they didn't bore all the way into his head. A line extended beneath each of his bright mahogany red eyes, and his mouth resembled a nutcracker.

And then all of the information Dimentio had just taken him slapped him right in the face.

This wasn't a man, this was a doll.

"Judging by that shocked look on your face, you have no idea who I am," the doll chuckled, his facial expressions just confusing the magician further as to how this man had come to be. "I'm not just a doll, you know."

Dimentio blinked.

"I'm a star spirit."

_Oh._

Dimentio had had run-ins with the people of stars before, and he'd never liked them. He had never spoken to one, per say, it was just their ideas, their beliefs that bothered him. Surprisingly, he never truly knew why.

The man extended a hand. It, too, was segmented, and he wore a dark leather fingerless glove, a band around the wrist with a small buckle on it, and below that the glove flared out somewhat stiffly. It had a square sort of hold on the back that started at the band and went up to just below his second and third knuckles. Below the band Dimentio could see a small star engraved into the leather.

_Figures._

The jester extended his own black gloved hand to shake, and found himself yanked to his feet by the doll, who had surprising strength for somebody with a body made of hollow wood.

The man gave Dimentio(who was still reeling from being pulled up so fast in his dizzied state)'s hand a swift, but strong shake. He had to stand a little under a foot below the jester, even without the added height of his hat, further raising the question of how he had managed to pull Dimentio to his feet so fast.

"Well, I already know your name, so, allow me to introduce myself," the doll stepped back, crossing his arms. "I'm _ !?_"

Dimentio blinked.

"But... that's hard to pronounce, so... I go by the name of the doll, usually, so," He bowed his head, the curls from under his hat bouncing slightly, "call me Geno."

"Yes, yes, it's a pleasure and all, but..." Dimentio looked around, madly attempting to regain his composure, "...where are we?"

"Ahh, yes, I suppose I should mention that," 'Geno' chuckled, putting his arms back under his cape, completely hidden from view, and glanced around, "welcome to my rather temporary home, the Forest Maze."

"_Maze?_" Dimentio couldn't help it when his mouth fell open in shock, "Which dimension are we in, exactly?"

"You mean 'world?'"

"Yes, world, dimension, whatever."

"This forest resides on the very outer border of the lesser Mushroom Kingdom, near a small village called Rose Town."

Dimentio cringed, The Mushroom Kingdom, of course this was where he had been revived, figures.

Geno smirked, "Don't like it? You can't exactly complain. You're completely powerless as of current."

"How do you know?"

"Because you were hanging from a tree by a rope for almost forty-five minutes. At least, that was how long you were conscious, even if most of it was only partially."

The jester paused, frozen in place by this new information. How long had he been here, really? And furthermore, how long had he been dead? He huffed, forcing his trademark smirk. "And _why_, Master Geno, are _you_ here, per say? Didn't you say you were a _Star Spirit?_ Shouldn't you be doing your little job on your little _Star Street_ or _whatever?_"

Geno's eyes lost their soft touch, betraying his annoyance towards the jester. "That's Star _Road_," he huffed, "and I _am_ doing my job."

"_Hmm?_"

All of a sudden, Geno's arms flew out from under his cape, flinging something towards him, and Dimentio felt a strange energy wave before something clamped around his neck. Something hot. And mere seconds later, an enormous shock went through the magician's body, making him fall to his knees and scream in agony. Moments after that, he fell onto his side, paralyzed, but still able to move his masked face.  
Geno smirked down at the jester, "And boy, do I _love_ it sometimes!"

Ignoring the remark, Dimentio still managed to hold a shaky smile, "Wh-what are you–?!"

The doll put a foot on Dimentio's chest, shutting the jester up almost instantly. He gave a low, yet humorless, chuckle. "You thought you could come back that easily, then you're _dead_ wrong, _Eater spawn_," his gaze turned serious, eyes glinting spitefully.

"I've no idea what you're– _Oof!_" the last grunt had been caused by Geno's foot pushing down on the jester's very upper chest, momentarily constricting his breathing.

The doll looked into the jester's eyes, seeming to be searching for something, which made Dimentio notice something he hadn't before. There almost seemed to be a star shape behind the darkness of the doll's pupil, and it bore into the magician on a heavily psychological level.

Suddenly, Geno's eyes widened in shock, and he jerked back violently, holding his arm straight out towards the jester and using the other to prop it up.  
And then something strange happened.

The lower part of the doll's outstretched lower arm let out a tiny burst of steam along with a quiet hissing noise as it split horizontally on both sides, opening up slightly, revealing strange almost white metal mechanisms underneath the wooden exterior. His outstretched hand seemed to widen at the joints, the lower segments growing in size via openings on their sides as well, and the fingers folded back into each other, the gloves made to naturally follow suit.

As soon as the fingers had folded in all the way, the hand split vertically down the middle and opening up with another stressed hiss, folding back smoothly with the rest of the arm and into the lower half of the lower arm. Moments later, the end half of the doll's lower arm had folded into itself, completely gone. Almost instantly after that, a small metal gun barrel exited, replacing where the arm had been previously.  
It had all happened so fast that it took Dimentio most of the next few moments to fully realize that there was a gun pointed at his head.

Geno seemed to be breathing heavily, irises small and focused in panic. Suddenly, he shook slightly, eyes drooping and losing their edge, he twitched violently once, then twice before taking a sharp, sudden breath. He blinked, the arm quickly reversing its previous cycle and returning to normal. He flicked his wrist and walked back over to Dimentio, still appearing somewhat frazzled.

"_Ahk–_ ha... ha..." the magician forced a choked laugh, his trademarked grin, though somewhat forced, returning to his masked face. "What... was _that _about...? Are you... _Afraid_ of me, Master Geno?– _HURK!_"

The last choke was caused by the doll stepping down hard on Dimentio's stomach, glaring down at him with a steely gaze. "Yeah," he chuckled a bit, smirking, "keep tellin' yourself that, and maybe you'll get somewhere."

The magician returned the doll's glare, his smile not wavering for a second. "Isn't that the notion I've _always_ gone by– _Ack!_"

Geno had picked up the paralyzed magician by the ring around his neck, dragging the coughing magician behind him, a smirk dominating his etched wooden face.

Dimentio groaned, finally having finished his fit of coughing. This was no way to re-start life, especially after what had happened just before his demise.

Not to mention he was back in the Mushroom Kingdom, and if the Bros. discovered he was here it would become his next living Underwhere. And this person knew who he was... and knew of the Brothers... which couldn't be a good combination. And what on earth did he have to do with this spirit's job?!

There was only one thing that was clear in his mind at this point:

This was going to be a very, _very_ long trip.


	3. Chapter 2:Simplicities and Complications

**Chapter 2: Simplicities and Complications**  
Geno

The Star Road Guardian was more ecstatic than he had been in a long, long time.

This had been the easiest thing he had ever done. There was no contest. He had been gifted the task of catching one of the most dangerous men in the Underwhere, and it hadn't taken more than a couple hours the previous night to get his old doll body from Gaz, it's owner's, attic, and around twenty minutes wandering the forest once he'd located the target.

From there it'd been smooth sailing, and now he was dragging said man back towards town, and eventually the central Mushroom Kingdom itself, where he'd find a way to get to Flipside and Dimentio back to the Underwhere where he truly belonged, in the star's opinion.

Hence, his manner was cheery, and he carried with him a spring to his step he hadn't had in years. He'd never gotten missions all too often, no scout had, but since he had his little "adventure" with Mario and co. to restore the Road it seemed like he'd been getting less and less. As word of his journey grew, as did his popularity. Half of his trips to visit the Haven had turned into him getting mobbed by Star Kids, asking question after question, and sometimes even for autographs.

But !? much rather preferred spending his time alone. He was a thinker at heart, and always had been since his initial creation just over 25 star years ago.

!? had one of the more important jobs in the well-oiled machine that was the Star Road. They had no proper name, but it was common knowledge at both Star Haven and the Road itself that their place was especially important. Some called them Travelers, others, Scouts, !? even recalled being called a Warrior at points in his life. Their primary directive, when put simply, was to help grant wishes that needed a bit more "hands-on assistance" than most. In !?'s case, however, he'd become a very important entity in this small group of individuals, leading to him doing more than just helping grant wishes.

And in this case, his mission briefing had had the words "save" and "universe" in the same sentence.

It was a fascinating thing, really. Him, a single star in a galaxy full of them, had been given the job of possibly saving all worlds from possible annihilation at the hands of a single man in a quadrillion, who just happened to possess one of the strongest, and perhaps darkest, powers in the known universe.

A fateful meeting? Perhaps, but !? was never the extremely superstitious type. Which, in all honesty, and considering everything about him and his origins, was one of the the most ironic things in the worlds.

_The forest is oddly quiet today._

And that it was, for the normal hum of the Buzzers was absent, as was the occasional shuffling of a bush caused by the presence of an Amanita or Wiggler or, on even rarer occurrences, a spare Octolot or Guerilla. This was a rare occurrence in itself, as the star had never once experienced such serenity in the Mushroom Kingdom as a whole.

To most, this would allow a feeling of peace or tranquility, but it simply added to the underlying sense of uneasiness in Geno's mind that he'd been trying to hold back since the start. How in the worlds had this man gotten there in the first place? It's not like he could simply escape the Underwhere, especially its prisons. The Warden would never allow that!

...Would they? Perish the thought that ever happen, Jaydes's Warden was one of the least compassionate souls in the Aftergame. And, though he hated to admit it, something about them scared Geno a bit. Be it their piercing red eyes or the friendly facade they wore near constantly, there was something off about the Warden, and Geno sure as Underwhere didn't plan on figuring out what it was.

The thing that the star was absolutely certain of was how angry the Warden be when they found out their most high-security prisoner had escaped.

And then there was the fact that said prisoner was currently in a half-state of paralysis.

The jester remained silent the entire way back out of the forest, much to Geno's surprise. He seemed rather like the talkative sort, considering their previous conversation. Then again, he had just been arrested, though it probably wasn't the first time in his life that had happened.

No, wait, it was an impossibility that this was the first time that had happened.

Geno, too, was silent, as he often was. He was in a state of deep thought, and, on occasion, almost came to a complete stop while walking before snapping back into reality. But he couldn't let that happen now. On the contrary, he needed to be completely focused, for Rose Town was nearing, and though the forest was quiet, that never stopped the native Toads from bustling about with their everyday business. I mean, it wasn't like they hadn't seen him before...

...Oh right, that was almost twenty years ago. Whoops.

Then again... that was besides the point. Sure, he may have to avoid their view one way or another, but...

He shook his head and continued walking in silence, but slowed his step slightly. There was a strange feeling crawling up the star's spine, and he didn't like it.

That got Geno thinking. The fact that Dimentio was back in the first place was a near impossibility, even _with_ his dark powers. The only beings that would even have a bit of a chance to bring him back would be…

_Oh no..._

Geno came to a complete halt, frozen in place. Several seconds passed, then minutes. Dimentio must've taken notice, because he craned his neck up to look at the star as best he could, and blinked several times.

"...Is something _wrong,_ Master Geno?"

Geno managed to snap out of his trance, shaking his head and glancing down at the jester.

"No," he huffed, just managing to keep his voice steady, "I'm fine, thank you."

The jester blinked once more, then allowed a small smirk to crawl upon his lips. "Mm," he mused, trying his best to keep his voice from sounding too strained even in the unfavorable circumstances, "your troubled gaze tells me otherwise... _Do_ tell, is something troubling y- _GAHK!_"

Geno, now fairly tired of the jester's rambling, had tugged hard on Dimentio's neck brace, causing him to choke mid-sentence.

"Yeah, that's enough of that, Eater spawn," the star spirit grumbled.

"What does that even _mean?!_" Dimentio exclaimed, throwing his head up to look at the star spirit as soon as he'd finished choking. "'Eater spawn,' it sounds like some sort of weird sexual innuendo or something!"

Geno paused a moment, then slowly shook his head, yanking once more on the jester's neck brace before he continued walking, admittedly at a faster pace than before.

The way back through (or rather, _around_)Rose Town (Geno was, admittedly, getting quite tired of dragging the jester around by this point, and would rather not cause the townsfolk to panic) was long and quite trying for the star spirit. He wasn't normally accustomed to as much manual labor over long periods of time as this had been—not to _mention_ the fact that Dimentio was _heavier than him._ He was meant for granting wishes, not dragging a partially unconscious _criminal _halfway across the Mushroom Kingdom (which was a gross over exaggeration on his part).

But he kept going for the sake of knowing that the more time passed, the more power the magician regained, and the more danger that not only the world, but the universe could be put into, and it was that idea that truly drove Geno towards his goal.

First thing first, he had to get to the home of the greatest heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom themselves. Or rather, in Geno's case, it was something of visiting an old friend.

But he couldn't linger on that idea, not in the slightest. This visit was purely business. Nothing more, nothing less.

Although, it was no lie that it'd be good to see old friends again.

Speaking of, they were nearing Tadpole Pond. Geno chuckled to himself quietly.

_I wonder if I'll see— oh, wait a minute..._

"That's right," he mumbled. Mallow was back at Nimbus Land.

"Pardon?" Dimentio suddenly piped up, causing the star spirit to jump slightly.

"I— what?" Geno questioned, glancing over his shoulder.

"You said something," the jester rasped, his voice somewhat gravelly from the band still restricting his throat.

Geno let out a huff, shaking his head and quickening his step slightly. "It doesn't matter," he snapped, "just keep your mouth shut."

_Goodness, is it that late already?_

That it was, as Geno stepped up to the edge of the crystalline water of Tadpole Pond. Orange tinted light danced across the cliff face beside the Midas Watefall, the roar of which could be heard in the distance. A thin breeze danced across the tops of the surrounding trees before quickly dying down once more.

"You've stopped," Dimentio rasped, "are you thinking again, or are you planning on killing me this time?" The star spirit rolled his eyes, tugging Dimentio over to a nearby tree and yanking him up against it, the jester's back slamming against its rough bark.  
Geno let out a huffed sigh, letting his hand slip off Dimentio's neck brace and getting on one knee in front of the jester, their gazes locking together.

"I have to do something," Geno hissed, seeming to search the jester's eyes for something. "If you try anything funny..." suddenly, the tip of Geno's pointer finger flipped open, revealing a hollow interior lined with metal, which he held firmly against Dimentio's forehead.

The jester seemed to get the point, nodding quickly.

"Good," Geno huffed, getting to his feet as the tip of his finger flipped back into its initial closed position. He turned on his heel and stepped back up to the edge of the water, waiting for something.

After a moment, the water rippled, and something black poked up out of it. Two eyes opened on the thing and stared up at Geno.

It hesitated a moment, then quietly asked, "...Who are you?"

Geno chuckled quietly, kneeling beside the water and looking down at the odd creature with a warm gaze. The very _last_ thing he wanted to do was scare these creatures off.

"An old friend," he murmured. "Is Frogfucius around?"

Suddenly, another black head popped up next to the first.

"Maaaayyyyybe," the second slurred, "why do you wanna know?"

"I wish to speak with him... It's important," Geno replied, glancing over his shoulder towards Dimentio for a moment before turning back to the black forms.

Just as he did, a third poked its head out of the water. "Gran'pa's tellin' the other tadpoles a story!" It chirped. "Are you here for tha story, too?"

"Oh?" Geno chuckled, looking down at the third of these tadpole creatures. "Really? What's his story about?"

The tadpoles looked at one another for several moments before the second one that had initially appeared disappeared beneath the water's surface. After a moment two more reappeared in its place.

"He's talkin' 'bout a big tower past tha forest," one of the ones that had just arrived slurred.

"Says a weird man-child lives there with a bunch 'a lil', uhh, cloaked people, I think..." the other one continued, trailing off.

Geno slowly nodded, the memories of the grueling trip up through Booster Tower practically fresh in his mind. He paused a moment, then asked, "...Booster, right?"

"Yeah!" The tadpoles on either end of the group of four exclaimed.

"Do you know him?" The one on the far right asked.

"Well... You could say that," Geno chuckled in response. "But... Back to my initial question, do you know where Frogfucius i—"

"Make way, make way!" A familiar somewhat raspy voice exclaimed from out over the water. The four tadpoles instantly disappeared below the surface, scattering.

Geno couldn't help but smile as he get to his feet, looking up just in time to see a large frog with a long white beard wearing a purple hat with a golden rim hanging on the end of a Lakitu(who appeared to be struggling to hold the elderly frog up)'s string slowly floated around five feet above the water over the pond towards Geno, stopping a few feet away.

"Still using that old trick I see, ey, Frogfucius?" Geno chuckled, putting his weight onto one leg and crossing his arms.

"You know it!" The old frog laughed heartily, looking down at the star spirit. "Alright, alright, let's get down to business, what brings you here?"

The star froze, remembering what he'd come for in the first place and glanced over his shoulder towards Dimentio once more. "Well..."

Frogfucius paused, than slowly nodded, looking in the same direction. "...Yes, yes, I see. I thought I'd heard something about that. Come, come, we'll speak where we can get some privacy," he said, then suddenly looked up at the Lakitu (who by now appeared very tired and was struggling to hold the old frog up) above him. "Got that? Reverse throttle!" he huffed in a somewhat loud whisper.

Geno did all he could to stop himself from laughing as the Lakitu slowly made its way backwards towards Frogfucius's island, the old frog in tow.

"You down there! Tadpoles!" The old frog suddenly exclaimed, looking down at the water. Several black heads immediately popped up out of its crystalline surface to look up at him. "Don't just float there," he snapped, "make yourselves useful! Form a bridge for our friend here!"

As he said this, the tadpoles immediately ducked below the water's surface, popping back up in a line over to the small island that the old frog was now getting lowered onto by the Lakitu.

Geno hesitated a moment, then began jumping across the heads of the large tadpoles one by one until he made it over to Frogfucius's island, walking over to a small table where the elderly frog sat, tapping his 'fingers' lightly on its wooden surface. The star spirit stepped over and kneeled at the table to the frog's right, where they sat in silence, the only sounds being that of the frog's tapping and the distant roar of the Midas Waterfall.

"So remind me," Frogfucius suddenly said, making Geno jump slightly, "you found him in the forest, did you...?"

"Erm... Yes, yes I did," the star nodded, remembering the events of earlier that day.

"He was hanging from a tree, but I have hardly the faintest idea how he got up there."

"Yes, I see," Frogfucius said, nodding slowly. "Yes, I'm afraid to tell you that the waterways haven't informed me of that either..."

The frog suddenly turned, walking over to the edge of the water and looking down into its depths, the star spirit watching the whole time, thoroughly intrigued.

After several moments, Frogfucius continued, "I realize you've come here seeking my council, yes?"

Geno hesitated a moment, then nodded, "Erm, yes, Frogfucius, that I have."

"Well," Frogfucius huffed after a moment, turning and glancing over his shoulder towards the star spirit, "I think the best thing I can suggest at this point is for you to try and get him back to the Merlon that lives in Flipside. He should have a better idea of what to do than I."

Geno slowly nodded, the pieces of his plan forming together.

"If that doesn't work," the old frog continued, "contact Eldstar, he may be able to assist you. But if all else fails," he turned to face Geno, his voice suddenly taking on a much more serious tone, "contact me once more."

The star spirit nodded again, quicker this time as the old frog looked down at the grass. He seemed to hesitate a moment before looking back up at Geno.

"Yes, yes," he mumbled, "you seek Mario, do you not?"

"Yes," Geno replied, keeping his voice strong, "that I do."

"Mm," Frogfucius mused, "oh, but if only you knew!"

_Uh oh,_ the star thought, letting out a huff.

"Mario isn't _at_ the Pipe House!"

The words hit Geno like a bomb had been dropped on his head, and he froze, taking in this new information.

"Hold on— wh-what do you mean?!" He exclaimed, a concerned gaze locking onto the old frog.

"It's been years, grasshopper. From what I know, the old boy's moved eastward."

Geno hesitated to speak, but he probably couldn't have if he'd tried. Out east? the star spirit's knowledge of the mushroom world in general was mostly centered around the western continent, and his visits to the Star Hill zones in the other areas were few and far between.

"I see you're concerned, yes? No need, grasshopper! You're lucky your friend there is learned with working with pipes."

"You don't mean—"

"That I do," Frogfucius chuckled. "You've nothing to worry about, he's got a warp pipe set up to his current living quarters up by Pipe House."

Geno let out a sigh of relief, feeling a huge weight lift off his shoulders, almost literally.

"Now, you'd best get going before nightfall of you want to make good time."

"Yes, of course," the star spirit huffed, getting to his feet. "Thanks again, Frogfucius."

"Of course, it's no trouble," Frogfucius chuckled, nodding up towards Geno. "Remember what I said."

"Don't worry, I won't forget it."

And with that, the two exchanged a swift goodbye, and Geno was hopping back across the heads of the tadpoles and back over next to the jester, who looked like he was half asleep.

"...Back already?" Dimentio asked, forcing a grin as he looked up towards the star spirit.

"Yep," Geno grunted, immediately grabbing the brace still taught against the magician's neck and tugging him up quite hard, making Dimentio fall onto his side in the dirt and gag.

The star immediately picked up the jester from the back of his brace, lifting him to his feet this time.

"We're heading out again, and there's no way I'm carrying you up a waterfall."

Dimentio seemed to freeze up slightly, his eyes widening. "_Waterfall?_"

"Yes," Geno replied, smirking, "the Midas Falls, to be precise. You'd best follow me, lest you'd rather get impaled by a Forkie."

The jester gulped. "Yes, sir."

"Good," Geno replied, glancing up over his shoulder towards the cliff face. "Let's get this show on the road."

One 'grueling climb' (or rather, detour) later, the two found themselves taking something of a break outside one of the larger towns, simply known as "Mushroom Kingdom" to the locals. This same town was where the branching path off east down to another town, simply known as 'Toad Town' lie, and, to Geno, mostly unknown territory.

The aforementioned star spirit was busy figuring out the easiest way to get through Mushroom Way without too much of a hitch. The sun had gone down some time ago, and it was, admittedly, quite dark out by this point. The light from the nearby town slightly illuminated the area, and all the while Dimentio a was sitting beside a tree, resting.

Pretty much the prime reason the two had stopped in the first place was because of how much the jester had been complaining before they stopped. It had become clear to the star spirit by this point how much Dimentio loathed walking long distances, especially since he was apparently used to floating everywhere. This fact didn't help the star's impression of the chaotic jester any further: in fact, it just sort of left the notion that he was extremely lazy.

However, his morality had overcome his annoyance towards the jester, and once they'd reached the outskirts of town he'd stopped to allow a break.

Of course, it was a break for Geno as well. He'd been walking for the vast majority of the afternoon and into the evening, and he sure as Underwhere wanted a break. Despite this, he knew this moment of peace wouldn't—_couldn't_ last long, especially if he wanted to make good time.

Zoning out a bit, the star went through his plan again: find Mario, get the return pipe and get to Flipside, use one of the doors on the tower too get to the Underwhere, and lock up this criminal for good.

"Come on," Geno huffed, glancing back towards Dimentio, "let's head out."

The jester suddenly hit his head back against the tree, groaning. "Can't I just rest a bit longer? Come on, you 'heroes' are supposed to have the morality like that of an elderly widow whose grandchildren live out of town."

"Well, lucky for you, I don't have any grandchildren. Now get up, you lazy fool," the star spirit grunted, pulling the jester by the arm until he stood up, back hunched over slightly.

"Normally, I'd take that as something remotely close to a compliment, but considering the circumstances, I'm hurt," Dimentio huffed, pouting.

"Good for you," Geno replied, smirking up at the jester, "let that be your inspiration to hurry up this time. Now, come on," he continued, turning and starting to walk towards Mushroom Way, "let's get moving before you die of exhaustion. I've heard that's one of the worst ways!"

That being inspiration enough, Dimentio huffed, picking up his stride and following the star spirit down the dirt path marking Mushroom Way.

It didn't take long for the pair to get through the path, most of the goombas and koopas usually inhabiting the path were either gone or sound asleep, and soon enough they were at the clearing where Pipe House lay, and several feet in front of it a large, green warp pipe.

Geno had stepped up to the doorway of Pipe House, reading a note that had been attached to the doorway obviously some time prior. After reading through it several times, he put the note back where he'd found it, turning and walking back over to Dimentio and the warp pipe.

The star spirit swiftly climbed up onto the rim of the thing, looking down into its depths. Pitch black, all the way down, like some sort of terrifying abyss.

"Come on," he huffed as Dimentio stood beside him, looking down into the pipe's depths, "let's go."

"Are you crazy?!" Dimentio exclaimed, forcing a grin as he looked up at the star spirit. "There's no way I'm jumping down this thing, you can go home and try again later because there's no way in Hell I'm—"

Suddenly, the star spirit grabbed the jester's neck brace, pulling him up so he was leaning over the edge of the pipe and holding his head down quite far, the star spirit's grip the only thing stopping him from falling.

"I'm sorry," Geno mused, "what was that, again? I'm afraid I didn't hear you."

"You lunatic—" Dimentio hissed quietly, squinting. His comment was met with the star spirit loosening his grip slightly, making Dimentio yelp feebly.

"Now, now," the star teased, slightly bobbing his hand, making the jester bounce slightly in his is grip, "we wouldn't want any insubordination on our hands at this stage..." He chuckled lightly, "I mean, _I_ wasn't very happy to find you... Think about how angry _Mario_ would be..."

"_Fine!_" Dimentio suddenly shouted. "I give in, just get me out of this thing, already!"

Geno chuckled lightly, looking down at the jester with a mischievous smirk. "Oh, on the contrary..."

Dimentio froze.

"We're both supposed to be heading to Mario's, right? Well," he paused, letting the band slowly start to slide from his hand as Dimentio's eyes widened with panic, "lead the way."

And with that, Geno pushed off the rim of the warp pipe, letting both him and Dimentio fall into the open abyss.

Surprisingly, the way down the warp pipe didn't take much longer than around 30 seconds, and before Geno knew it he was climbing back onto the rim of the exit pipe, dragging Dimentio up after him.

As soon as he managed to get the jester up onto the rim of the thing, he jumped down, stretching his arms up and tapping the toes of his shoes onto the ground before turning heel and facing the magician once more.

"Get down," he huffed, crossing his arms, "we're here."

"Oh, come on," Dimentio pouted, rolling over and leaning on his elbows while looking over towards the star spirit, "do we _really_ have to go there? I mean, I'm sure it'd be easier just to kill me here and now..."

Geno frowned, stepping over and once more putting his hand through the brace latched to his neck. "Sorry, I don't roll by the same rules you do," he huffed before suddenly yanking the jester down from the warp pipe.

Dimentio yelped as he landed face-first in the grass. As he did, the warp pipe suddenly lowered into the ground, a hatch sliding closed over it so you could hardly even tell it was there in the first place.

Geno turned heel, Dimentio still dragging behind him, towards the house they'd ended up nearby: a fairly large, one-story yellow wooden house with a deck surrounding it, curved red roof, green-and-brown door with a light above it and a curved sign above the light that read out "MARIO" in large letters.

_Yep, this must be the place._

The star paused a moment before the three steps up onto the deck before heading up, the jester's head banging off each. Geno stopped a moment at the top.

"You know, you could just _walk_ and not have to go through all this."

"Just..." Dimentio growled, clenching his teeth a moment before forcing a grin and turning his head up towards the star spirit. "Let's... Just... Get this over with... Alright...?"

Geno scoffed lightly, turning back to the door and stepping up to it, "If you insist."

And with that, he tucked his hand grasping the jester's neck brace behind his back slightly, and knocked on the door.

After a moment, a muffled voice was heard behind the door, "I'm-a coming! I'm-a coming! Just-a give-a me a second!"

Another moment passed before the famed plumber in red himself, Mario, opened the door. "Yes, what i— oh my... Geno?" He grinned, tilting his head to the side, "No, is-a that _really_ you?"

"In the flesh," Geno chuckled, "or rather, wood. It's good to see you again, Mario."

"It's-a been _years_," the plumber sighed, stepping back and holding the door open while motioning a hand out for the star to come in, "please, make-a yourself at home."

"Well... That's the thing," Geno mumbled, averting his gaze. "I didn't come alone."  
"Pardon?"

With that, Geno whipped his other hand out, tossing the jester onto the bare wooden floor and making him slam face-first into it. Mario froze up slightly as Geno stepped through the door.

After a moment, the plumber shook his head, closing the door after the star spirit, who had pulled a chair out from the nearby table and sat down.

"What in-a the _worlds_ is-a _he_ doing here?" Mario hissed, glaring down at the jester.

"I wish I knew," Geno grumbled, rubbing his forehead. "We got a call pretty early this morning that his signature had reappeared somewhere in the Kingdom. After the rumor had apparently been affirmed, I got my mission briefing to get him back to the Underwhere in any way I could. Didn't take long to find him, he was in the Forest Maze, of all places."

"Grambi..." Mario mumbled, stepping around and kneeling beside the jester. "Is he conscious?"

His question was quickly answered as Dimentio twisted his head to the side, grinning up at the plumber. "_Hero..._" he hissed, "_long time, no see..._"

Mario flinched slightly, jumping back as Geno reached his foot over and kicked the back of the jester's head, making him yelp quietly.

"Don't worry about him too much right now, Mario," the star huffed, glaring down at he jester. "He's pretty much powerless, thank Authority."

Mario let out a relieved sigh. "Thank Grambi Luigi isn't home."

"I'd bet," Geno sighed, looking down at his feet.

"So," Mario huffed after a moment, "what did-a you need from-a _me?_"

"Well," Geno replied, smiling slightly as he looked back up at the plumber, "I have a favor to ask."


	4. Chapter 3: Distasteful Reunion

**Chapter 3: Distasteful Reunion**  
Geno

"What do you mean you don't know where the Return Pipe is?"  
Mario shrugged sheepishly, averting his gaze. "Well... Like-a I said, it's-a been _years_ since I've-a last... erm, used it..."  
Geno couldn't bring himself to speak. His entire body felt numb. Without the Return Pipe, how were they supposed to get back to Flipside? And, especially now that he was in unfamiliar territory, there was no way he'd be able to get there himself. The realm between dimensions could only usually be accessed by creatures that were learned in the art of traveling between them, of which the star spirit was not one.  
"So..." Geno mumbled after a long pause, "what are we going to do with..."  
He cast his gaze towards Dimentio.  
Mario looked over at the jester, who was now sitting against the side of the doorway into the bros.' room, and frowned, letting out a sigh. "I... I can't-a say for certain, but..."  
Suddenly, Geno ducked over next to the plumber, planting a hand firmly on Mario's back and lowering his head. "_Look,_" he hissed, his voice suddenly taking on a much more serious tone, "we don't have that much time, that band I used to block out his power is only temporary."  
"_Fracktail,_" Mario huffed, quickly scratching his nose before looking down at the ground and putting a thumb on his chin, thinking. "And you're-a _certain_ you haven't another one?"  
"Sadly, no," the star grumbled in reply. "Any _other_ ideas?"  
The plumber paused a moment, then rubbed his forehead. "I... apologize, Geno, I-a wasn't really expecting any of this..."  
Geno looked down at his feet, running a finger along the rim of his hat which made his bright orange curls bounce slightly. "I should really be the one apologizing," he sighed, looking back up at the plumber. "I don't think anybody expected it, in all honesty. I mean, none of us in the the council did, at the very least."  
"I believe it," Mario replied, scratching his cheek and averting his gaze. "Just-a wait until the princess hears about this... mama mia..."  
Geno pondered a moment, then shook his head, looking down at the ground as he leaned back and sat down in his chair. "If... we can get this done quick enough," he muttered, his gaze raising back up to meet with Mario's, "then the princess never has to know. It can be our little secret."  
The plumber slowly nodded, once again pursing his thumb against his chin and looking down at the ground. "Well... you're-a not wrong in that sense." He paused, lowering his hand and slowly gazing over at the jester. "You know," he mumbled, eyes dark, "there-a is another way to-a get rid of him much-a more quickly..."  
The star spirit shuddered, letting out a huff before shaking his head, "I...'d rather not..." He paused, trailing off before looking up at the plumber once more. "...Having that tag hooked to my name would not be the best thing..."  
"I can-a relate to that," Mario muttered before turning back to the star, sitting down in his own chair and crossing his legs, leaning back. "Well," he began again, crossing one hand over his stomach and rubbing his forehead with the other, "I...-a suppose I could-a look for it, but we-a may just-a have-a to wait out the night and-a hope for the best."  
The star spirit nodded in understanding, letting out a sigh. "Alright," he huffed, "that might also give us time to think of something else." He paused a moment longer, then looked back up at the plumber. "You sure you're okay with this?"  
"Of-a course, Geno," Mario replied, meeting the star's gaze and putting his hands in his lap. "Especially considering the matter at-a hand. You've-a got nothing to worry about," he chuckled. "The most important thing we have-a to worry about is-a getting this whole thing worked out. And, considering how quickly you were-a able to catch him initially, I'm pretty sure this is-a going to be a piece of cake!"

-  
Dimentio

_Those fools. I can't believe how easy they've made this!_  
Dimentio smirked, the light glow from the band around his neck now having dimmed to nearly nothing, the primary thing lighting the room was the bright moonlight coming through the window to his right at the back wall of the bros' room. He slowly turned his head to look over at the nearest clock he could see - on the wall opposite the way he was facing in the living room.  
11:46. And it wasn't even that late, to one such as the jester himself.  
His smirk slowly grew into a full-on grin, and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud.  
The jester took a deep breath, holding it a moment before letting it out, coursing some of his power into the neck brace and hearing it fizzle and hiss slightly as its single hinge opened, releasing itself from around Dimentio's neck before flickering out of existence. In the next instant, the jester froze as he heard a mixture of a groan and a wince emanate from Geno, who was asleep on the floor in the bros' room.  
Dimentio froze, his gaze locked onto the star spirit until a few moments after he once again ceased moving, curled up in his blue cape like a blanket. After another moment, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and a malicious grin slowly crept upon his lips.  
As silently as he could, the jester got to his feet, hesitating a moment before willing his power and, slowly but surely, floating up about an inch or two above the ground.  
He bit gently into his bottom lip - the familiar sharpness of his teeth almost a sort of relief after all those years of being unable to change his form. By the time of his death, being in his true form was almost something more of a hassle - but it had been so long since he had been in anything but that that he'd almost entirely forgotten what it was like otherwise.  
But before that, he had some much greater matters to attend to.  
Dimentio narrowed his eyes slightly, allowing his power, which had been greatly suppressed since Geno had found him in the forest, to branch and spread out as he got accustomed to his surroundings. He let out another long breath, the dimensional coordinates of his current position entering his mind. He smirked, mentally repeating them to himself several times.  
_Northeastern sector of the Milky Way Galactic Region; second mirror realm of String 1-254 AC - otherwise known as the 'Mushroom World'; Southwestern Central sector of the Central continent._  
"_Excellent._"  
He slowly floated into the room to his right, yellow eye glowing ominously as he glanced up at the red-garbed plumber still asleep on the top bunk of him and his brother's bed. Moving on, the jester turned around to face Geno, who was somewhat sprawled out on the floor, half curled up in his cape as he slept. A grin once again crept upon Dimentio's masked face.  
Suddenly, Dimentio bent down, yanking the star spirit up by the back of his collar, twirling him around, and thrusting his opposite hand violently against the star's neck, forcing him against the wall with a hard slam as Geno's eyes flew open. Mario snored loudly.  
The star spirit blinked like mad, fumbling with his right hand for his left before Dimentio suddenly forced his hands together, pressing and holding them hard against his chest as he held Geno's doll body against the wall a good foot and a half off the ground.  
"-What are you-?! Hk-" the star began to exclaim before choking up as Dimentio raised the hand holding Geno's neck slightly, yet forcefully, silently threatening to pop his head right off.  
"_You listen to me, and you listen good,_" Dimentio snarled, locking Geno's gaze with an extremely harsh glare, "_you'd do best to stay out of my way, __**star**__._"  
Geno didn't move, fear shining brightly in his usually calm mahogany eyes.  
"_I swear on God's name, you'll regret this day, star,_" the jester spat, thrusting Geno against the wall once more before a malicious, sharp-toothed grin grew across his masked face. "I suppose I should almost thank you!" He suddenly chirped, his voice getting somewhat louder as his carelessness regarding Mario grew. He continued, "If it wasn't for you shooting me down, I would've _died_ out there, and you would've been done with me for good! Lucky for you silly, foolish little goody-goodies your morality rate's so high..."  
He actually laughed. It was an airy, almost breathless rasp of a laugh, but along with it shone a sort of craziness to his gaze that noticeably made Geno's gaze turn to one of pure, unadulterated terror-exactly what Dimentio wanted.  
"Yes, well," the jester hissed, his voice once again lowering to just above a whisper, "I suppose I should _thank you..._ considering how much help you've been to me..."  
He paused, tilting his head to the side in a way that was almost creepy. "...But however shall I do that? ..._**Ah!**_ I've just the thing..."  
The jester raised the hand he was using to hold Geno's hands onto his chest up slightly, pressing down harder to keep him held against the wall as he held his other hand out, focusing his energy as particles of pure dark magic slowly formed into an object in his hand-a clasp not much unlike the one that had put on his neck by the star spirit, but this one being pitch black.  
He held up his creation, noticing the star spirit's eyes flicker to it several times and widen with a mixture of surprise and mortal terror.  
After several moments, he suddenly thrust his hand forward, latching the thing around Geno's neck and instantly raising his other hand to press onto the star's forehead a moment, making him instantly fall asleep as he fell to the floor, slumping against the wall with his curls drooping slightly as the band gave off a thin black smoke.  
Dimentio's grin grew even further, and he backed up a few feet.  
"_Ciao, !?~_"  
And with that, the jester warped away in his usual fashion, the coordinates for his next destination already playing in his mind on repeat, leaving the room silent once again as the clock in the other room struck midnight.

-

_? sector of a nonexistent galaxy; second mirror realm of String NOT-0? - primarily known as the 'Void'; Central-?-? sector, only known habitable area. Otherwise known as..._  
"...Castle Bleck."  
Dimentio floated in silence, staring up at the great pitch-black castle far down the long pathway before him as the strange forces and winds from the surrounding void made his hat and cape whip about like mad around him. He squinted slightly, the only thing off about his otherwise expressionless face as memories came flooding back to him.  
He scowled, brow creasing slightly as he held his hands together, his back hunching slightly as he cast out his power, forcing back the winds from the pathway and around him in general for the time being. He huffed, raising back up as his hat returned to its normal mostly upright position, swaying slightly as it always did in this form.  
The jester lowered his hands to his sides, pausing a moment before floating over to the great doorway into the castle and looking up at it. He hesitated, then leaned forward, pressing his hands firmly onto it's cold surface and sending a spark of power through it, pushing the door open with a tremendous creak.  
Letting out a huff, Dimentio floated through and into the castle, snapping so the doors closed behind him.  
"Still here after all these Godforsaken years," he murmured, looking around as he slowly floated down the great foyer hallway. "I'd have thought it would have been destroyed by now. Old Blumiere must have had a brain under that hat, after all."  
He continued this way for a while, wandering the halls with the only audible sound being the occasional flicker of one of the pitch black torches and the whistle of the strong Void winds outside the windows.  
Eventually, he entered a fairly large, mostly empty room and froze completely, eyes widening.  
He clenched his right fist hard, the ends of his hat lowering as he hunched his back. There was an unmistakable energy in this room, focused mainly around an area in almost the exact center.  
Memories of that day-that horrible, awful day-came rushing back in one single moment, and he fell to the ground, holding his head with both hands as he stumbled slightly to stay on his feet before letting put a bloodcurtling scream, moving his hands down and forcefully tearing his mask off before throwing it extremely hard like into a nearby wall, making it shatter into multiple pieces.  
The jester stood there, breathing heavily as a couple spare strands of his black hair fell into his face, gaze locked onto the spot where his mask had hit the wall. He mumbled a curse under his breath before immediately turning around and floating out of the room, not even bothering to close the door after himself.

_Come on,_ Dimentio thought, a sneer across his lip and a furrowed brow as he strived to remember which door lead to his next location, _you couldn't have forgotten, Demen, remember how many times you went there..._  
"Ugh!" He scoffed, throwing his arms up in frustration.  
The jester immediately lowered his arms again, rubbing his deep gray eye with a balled right fist before tugging gently on the skin below it, frowning before he continued on his way.  
He paused, thinking a moment before stopping and holding up his right hand, thumb and middle finger pursed together and his eyes closed.  
"Hallway... eight, was it?"  
Trusting his luck, Dimentio snapped, feeling the world flip around him and seeing flashes of color through his eyelids before it suddenly stopped in his usual warping fashion. Hesitating, he opened an eye a sliver to see if he had gone the right way. He grinned, opening his eyes and looking down at the door before him. It was pink.  
Hanging from a nail shoved haphazardly into what was _vaguely_ the center of the door was a sign that read out in delicate curved handwriting:

_Knock before entering!_

Except you, doofus! _KEEP OUT!_

Above the 'KEEP OUT' was an arrow pointing to a crudely drawn picture of Dimentio's head with a glare and scribbled, sharp teeth.  
Dimentio chuckled lightly. Mimi's old room.  
_I'll come back to you later._  
Making a mental note of its location, Dimentio turned around and observed the five doors in the wide hallway other than the one he was in front of. They were somewhat spread apart-three across the hallway from the one he was at and two to the right on the same side.  
Starting from the one to the right of his current position, he slowly floated by them. This one was a fairly simple door of a light almost purpley-gray color._Nastasia's room, no doubt._  
To the right-or rather, the left if you were facing the wall itself-of Nastasia's was a very, very dark blue door with a shining silver handle. _Blecky's room..._  
Directly across the hall was a crude, medium brown wooden door that didn't even look like it had been painted. It had several 2x4s haphazardly driven into it in several places-possibly covering up holes that had been made in it in the past. There was only one brute in the Bleck household capable of such feats...  
_O'Chunks..._  
Moving on to the middle door on that side of the hall was a deep green colored door that appeared to be made of metal. It had a dirty silver handle, as well as a sign hammered nicely into it that simply stated "_**KEEP OUT!**_" in large, scribbly letters and was signed at the bottom right by a backwards-facing capital L.  
Dimentio huffed, immediately moving into the final door as a subtle grin crept upon his lips.  
It was a pitch black door that would've blended in almost perfectly with the rest of the walls if it wasn't for the fact that the white lines outlining some of the details in the carving weren't... different, to say the least. They had a light purple gradient on them that stayed constant over the whole door-magenta at the top right down to a light blue at the bottom left. And the whole thing seemed to have lighter, moving bubbles passing across it at any one given time-almost similar to Dimentio's hat.  
The jester grinned, reaching out and grabbing the doorknob (which had the same pattern as the lines) and attempted to turn it, only to find that it was locked. Already expecting this, he sent a spark of his magic into it and heard a satisfying click. Immediately after, he opened the door, letting himself in.  
The room was completely dark for a moment before a candle in a small lamp on a desk against the wall to Dimentio's left lit with a quiet _fwoosh_, dimly lighting the somewhat small, cluttered room. Closing the door behind him, he slowly floated over and stopped in the center of the room, taking his hat off and shaking his messy black hair out, the two white streaks on the side nearest his yellow eye almost seeming to glow softly in the candlelight as he looked around.  
He dropped his hat to the ground, lifting a hand to send a spark through the diamond-shaped pin holding his collar together at the base of his throat. Immediately after, his poncho quickly (and quite literally) retracted up into the base of his collar, disappearing altogether as it made it all the way up. He tugged off his black gloves and tossed them up onto his slightly slanted desk before pulling his messy hair up and back, wrapping his fingers around the base of the bunch and forming a band to hold it into a sort of ponytail.  
Stepping over to a smaller sort of bedside table next to his large, covered bed, he quickly tugged open the top drawer, digging in for something like half a second it before shoving it closed and opening the one below it, shoving some papers aside and pulling out an exact copy of his mask-this one baring a completely neutral expression with wide, circular eyes.  
He twisted it around, pushing any spare strands of hair out of his face before putting it on. The mask displayed a variety of expressions from pain, to joy, sadness, even mortal terror before Dimentio's eyes dropped half closed in a neutral expression. A moment later, it displayed his true expression.  
Dimentio stood tall again, pulling his black sleeves up a bit and putting his gloves back on before warping back outside the room, something heavy weighing in the back of his mind as the world, once again, spun around him, an array of colors flashing in his vision.

No more than thirty seconds later, the dimensional jester was body slamming a certain dark blue door.  
"_This is ridiculous,_" he hissed as he stumbled back from the door a third time now. "You'd swear he wouldn't have time to lock his Godforsaken door for such a big event, but _nooo,_ of course he did."  
Floating back again and charging a thicker wall of dark energy around him this time, he lowered to the ground, putting one foot back further than the other and preparing to charge.  
"Lousy Godforsaken common sense-" he growled as he charged at the door again, putting his elbow up to shield his head and focusing the shield to the front of him as he suddenly burst through the door, breaking it down in the process and flying into the room, the lower half of him ramming into the end of Bleck's bed as he reched, getting forcefully bent over the white wooden rail at the end of it. He stumbled back, arms wrapped around his stomach as he wretched, grumbling quietly.  
Shaking his head, Dimentio quickly snapped out of it, floating over to the desk next to Bleck's bed and shoving anything and everything off it. He huffed, yanking open the drawers and digging in each, shoving them closed forcefully as he found nothing. He growled, going over and doing the same for any and all other things and drawers in the room and, much to his dismay, finding no sign of what he was looking for.  
"_**WHERE THE HELL IS IT?!**_" he suddenly screeched, sending out a tremendous wave of dark energy that burst through the room, making anything delicate shatter immediately and anything too light go flying.  
Suddenly, Dimentio stopped, hearing a quiet, familiar hissing voice tickle his ears.  
"**_Thov shovldst know where I lie..._**" it hissed, an automatic, yet unneeded sense of dread growing in Dimentio's chest.  
"Chaos," he mouthed, eyes widening slightly as he immediately flipped dimensions once-twice-eventually ending up in a strange, warped realm that was almost pitch black.  
He gulped, knowing full and well that he shouldn't have been there.  
"_**Dementio,**_" it hissed with a now much louder voice. Dimentio flinched harshly, his shoulders hunching. "**_Thov shovldst know what to do... qvickly,_**" it went on, tone seeming to grow in urgency, "**_we'ue limited time, thov shovldst know... hvrry so we can leaue this place as promptly as possible..._**"  
Dimentio quickly nodded, eyes clenched closed. He took a deep breath, straightening his back before holding his arms out to his sides, palms forward as he slowly let his breath out, feeling an extremely strong amount of dark power begin to gather around him and centering on his open hands and chest. He had to force himself not to move as a sort of piercing sensation began to go through wherever the power was strongest-the worst of it being where his heart was.  
After a while of this, and the ever-growing pain, he blacked out.

Suddenly, Dimentio sat up, breathing heavily only to find himself surrounded by the dark blue star-speckled walls of Count Bleck's room. He hesitated a moment before slowly getting to his feet, glancing around.  
The room was absolutely trashed.  
The jester huffed, stepping over and shoving the door off the two steps up to the entrance to the room before stepping back over and shoving some of the tattered papers, clothes, etc. out of the way with his foot before stopping, the events from what seemed like moments before flooding back into his memory. A subtle smile crept upon his lip as he felt an all too familiar power source nearby.  
In the next instant, Dimentio dashed up and out the door, grabbing onto the side to swing himself around and across the hallway to the entrance to his own room, twisting the door handle and swinging it open before freezing, staring at the object now lying atop his desk.  
There, atop his desk near the candle lighting the room was a fairly thick black book with a large blue gem in the center and four smaller silver ones at each corner. Outlining the cover and twisting around the four corner gems was a thin line with a gradient color-magenta at the top to red at the bottom. Within this outline was another diamond-shaped one that touched the outer line at the top, bottom, and both sides. The gem in the center radiated out a sort of red pattern onto the book's cover itself.  
On the side binding were three tan strips near the top, middle, and bottom. Closer to the topmost of the three and between the top and middle was a small, aged slip of paper that read out in delicate handwriting:

_**Dark  
Prognosticus**_

Dimentio's smile slowly grew into an evil grin as he floated over to the book, sitting down at his desk and gently lying a hand on its cover, black smoke curling around his fingers. He opened one of the top drawers in his desk, pulling out a small vial of deep purple, almost black, ink, opening it, and setting it next to him on one of the flatter areas of the desk before pulling out a quill from the drawer with a long, delicate black feather on the end of it.  
Swiftly opening the book, he flipped through the slightly aged pages before suddenly stopping on two blank ones side by side. He paused a moment before slowly dipping his quill into the ink and writing on the page in delicate handwriting not incredibly dissimilar to that the book's name was written with on the binding.  
_Greetings, old friend.  
It's been ages, hasn't it?  
Well, I'll get to the point.  
I have a favour to ask..._


	5. Chapter 4: Getting Our Act Together

**Chapter 4: Getting Our Act Together**  
Geno

Mario was awoken by the sound of somebody screaming their lungs out.  
He immediately sat up, almost hitting his head on the ceiling as he turned around to see the source of the screaming: none other than the resident star spirit in a doll's body.  
Geno was sitting with his back pressed hard against the wall, knees up as he tore madly at the band around his neck, screaming in agony. The thing made his hands hurt like somebody was repeatedly stabbing them-not to mention the same feeling, but practically ten times worse, was coursing over the back of his neck. However, this didn't stop him from desperately trying to pull the thing off.  
Mario stumbled slightly as he jumped down from his bed, hopping over and kneeling in front of the star spirit before slapping him hard across the face and ripping his hands away from the brace. "Snap _OUT_ of it!" He screamed at the star spirit as he slapped Geno across the face a second time.  
Geno held his breath, eyes wide as he snapped his mouth shut. The pain ceased almost immediately after Mario forced him to let go of the band.  
Mario huffed, planting a firm hand on Geno's chin and lifting his head, their gazes meeting.  
"Mama mia," the plumber sighed, letting go after a moment and scooting back, "what in-a the worlds happened?"  
Geno couldn't speak. He was breathing extremely heavily, and his hands were shaking like mad. Vague, yet terrifyingly vivid memories of the night before were running repeatedly through his mind. Getting picked up and thrown against the wall... being unable to do anything other than stare as Dimentio whispered awful tellings of revenge, and even thanking him... then something getting clamped around his neck and nothing after. When he'd first woken up, he'd thought it had been just a simple nightmare, but when he felt something around his neck...  
He gulped, slowly lifting a hand to motion to the thing, but not daring to touch the brace again.  
Mario's gaze slowly lowered until he saw the pitch black brace strapped tightly around Geno's neck, his eyes widening slightly as he stared at the thing and mumbled something under his breath. The plumber paused a moment, looking down and flicking his nose with his finger lightly before getting to his feet. Still wearing only his boxers and a long-sleeved red shirt, the plumber dashed into the other room, coming back a moment later and looking downstairs for something. A few moments later, he walked back up, face pale.  
"Geno," he mumbled, stopping in front of the star and staring at the wall, brow furrowed slightly, "do you know where Dimentio is?"  
Geno froze, eyes widening. He looked down at the floor and held a hand over his mouth.  
_Authority help us,_ he thought, holding his breath a moment before letting out a huff. When he looked back up at Mario, the plumber was staring at the wall above Geno, unmoving.  
Hesitating a moment, Geno moved forward slightly, twisting around to see what the red-garbed plumber was staring at only to see several cracks in the wall five or so feet above the ground. He winced slightly.  
"Geno," Mario suddenly said again, making the star spirit jump, "I need-a you to explain what happened last night after I fell asleep..."

"...And then you snapped me out of it."  
Mario nodded, sitting in a wooden chair in the doorway between the two main rooms with his cap somewhat sideways on his head and only one of the straps on his overalls buckled as he leaned back, one arm crossed over his stomach and the other thumb pursed lightly on his chin.  
Geno had just finished describing, in as much detail as he could remember clearly, what he'd seen the night before, and was pacing back and forth around the room, stopping every so often, as he was now. He put his hand on the table, tapping his fingers.  
"...I see," Mario huffed, scooting forward a bit and laying his feet up on the table. He looked up at Geno again, "So... what was it that-a he said when he put-a that... thing around-a your neck...?"  
"Something about 'regretting this day,' I think?" Geno huffed, leaning back and putting his weight on one leg, crossing his arms. "He said it was a 'gift,' which doesn't really make sense. Then again..."  
"...This _is_ Dimentio we're-a talking about."  
"You took the words right out of my mouth," the star grumbled, putting both hands on the table and leaning slightly on it. He sighed, raising a hand and flicking one of his curls, making it bob several times before standing up and crossing his arms again. "Well," he began, turning and slowly pacing across the room with a thumb on his chin, "there's no doubt he's fled by now—I can't get _any_ sign of his power signature as far as my senses allow."  
"Fracktail," Mario huffed, lowering his gaze. "So, what you're-a saying is that we don't-a have _any_ leads?"  
"Well, not quite," the star replied, turning back towards Mario and holding a hand up. "I'm far from the most powerful being in the universe—but all power signatures leave a trail. Even if it's interdimensionally, if you know what you're looking for, and have the access to how to do it and know where to go, you can track almost anyone in the universe."  
"Right," Mario replied, furrowing his brow slightly and trying not to look too confused. "So... then, where do we need-a to go in-a order to track him?"  
The star paused another moment, returning his thumb to his chin as he paced back over near the table and stopped again, leaning his hands on its wooden surface once more.  
"Well," he began, "in this case, and considering the circumstances we're dealing with, I think the realm between dimensions is a good place to start, but then we'd need..."  
He fell silent, keeping his gaze lowered as Mario gulped, fiddling with a button on his overalls and looking away.  
"Yeah, uhh, sorry about that," the plumber mumbled, chuckling weakly.  
Geno couldn't help but chuckle, looking up and crossing his arms. "It's fine, Mario, you're only human. Everyone loses things, sometimes. We'll just have to find another way to get to Flip—"  
"Mario! I'm-a home! Wh—"  
The star froze, slowly turning around to see a taller figure in similar garb to Mario, spare his darker overalls and green instead of red shirt and hat with an L on his hat frozen in the doorway, staring at the star spirit with wide eyes.  
Geno blinked, bowing his head slightly and addressing the figure. "Erm, hello, you must be Luig—"  
He was interrupted as the man in green suddenly started screaming, slamming the door shut before darting past Geno and dragging his brother from the chair, pulling him into the back room. "_MARIO!_" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up before the brothers began yelling at each other in another language, most likely Italian.  
The star raised a brow, watching the brothers bicker (the green one occasionally glancing at him and mentioning with his hands) with a slightly concerned gaze. He eventually saw Luigi reach down and slap his brother, at which point the star averted his gaze completely, straightening his belt and hooking his thumbs into either side of it before looking up to see Mario dragging his brother back into the main room, shoving his chair out of the way.  
The plumber cleared his throat, glancing up at his brother, who was glaring down at him with his arms crossed, and sighing. "I...-apologize-a for that," Mario huffed, straightening his hat. "Geno, this is-a my brother, Luigi. Luigi, this is Geno."  
"Ah," Geno huffed, bowing politely, "it's nice to finally meet you, Luigi. Your brother talked about you a lot on our adventure all those years ago."  
"Hm?" Luigi blinked, perking up a bit. "Really? He did?"  
"Oh, yes!" The star went on, glancing over at Mario, who looked just as, if not more confused than his brother. "He always talked about how close you two are, and your amazing jumping ability... He missed you a lot in that time."  
Luigi smiled, giggling quietly before putting his chin up, his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out. "Well, that's-a nice to hear! Yeah, me and my big bro are pretty close," he chuckled, glancing down at Mario, who smiled back up at him. He looked back up at Geno, holding his hand out. "It's-a nice to meet you, Mister Geno. Sorry about freaking out a bit ago— I, uhh, didn't really expect your appearance!"  
The star chuckled, stepping forward and giving the green-garbed plumber's hand a firm shake. "It's alright. Heck, I don't blame you much. But..." Geno pulled his hand away, looking up at the plumber and tilting his head to the side slightly. "...You know I'm more than just a doll, right?"  
"Pardon?"  
Mario giggled lightly, putting a hand over his mouth. "I never told you?"  
"I'm a star spirit."  
"What, like," Luigi paused, lightly scratching his cheek, "the sky, or something?"  
"Well, sort of..." Geno trailed off, reaching up and scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I suppose, in a way, but it goes much deeper than that..."  
"Ah," Luigi chirped before the star could go on, "well, I won't make-a you explain. Though, I will ask one thing..."  
"Oh?" the star mused, tilting his head to the side.  
"Why are you here? I mean, the last time you came down here, from what my bro tells me, nobody's wishes were being granted... or something like that," the plumber huffed, looking down at the table. "Is-a there something going on?"  
Geno hesitated, glancing over at Mario, who was biting his lip, before looking down at the table. "Well..."  
"Bro, dont-a freak out," Mario suddenly exclaimed, looking up at Luigi, who looked down at him with a confused gaze, before stepping in front of his brother and putting his hands firmly on the other's shoulders and saying something to him very quickly in Italian. Luigi's eyes slowly widened as his brother went on, reaching up and covering his mouth with his hands as Mario finished, shivering violently.  
Mario stepped back next to Geno, lowering his hat and looking at the ground.  
Geno leaned to the side, mumbling to the plumber in a hushed voice, "Y' shouldn't have told him."  
"I know, but he would-a have found out eventually—"  
"Still, that might've been better than layin' it all on him at once."  
"Oh, hush, what do you know, aren't-a you an only child?"  
"Still," Geno huffed, glancing at Mario a moment before casting a concerned gaze up towards the green plumber. "Erm... Luigi?" He asked, speaking up. "Is everything alri—"  
"_NO, EVERYTHING IS NOT ALRIGHT,_" Luigi interrupted, reaching up and pulling his hat over his eyes a moment before taking it off and putting his hands on Geno's shoulders, shaking the star violently. "Do you have any idea how vital it is that that guy _STAY_ dead?! Without him locked away, who knows _what_ could happen!"  
Geno blinked several times, putting his hand up and trying to tug one of Luigi's hands off his shoulder to no avail. He forced a weak chuckle, curls drooping slightly. "Erm, yes, Luigi, I'm sure we all remember what happened, but it's important that we stay calm so we can get everything in or—"  
"Calm? _Calm? __**Can't you see I'm perfectly calm?!**_"  
"_**LUIGI, SIT DOWN!**_" Mario suddenly shouted, pointing at the chair behind his brother.  
Luigi paused a moment, looking up at his brother for a few seconds before setting his hat on the table and leaning back, sitting down in the chair and folding his hands in his lap.  
"Good Grambi," the red-garbed plumber sighed, rubbing his forehead and stepping over to the other side of Geno, picking up his brother's hat and looking at it. He sighed, putting the green hat on top of the star's head.  
Geno paused, leaning back onto the table and putting his hand lightly on the rim of the cap, watcing Mario pace in silence.  
"Bro," the red plumber piped up after some time, "I'm-a sorry for yelling, but really, this isn't-a time to be freaking out." He paused, having walked around to the side of the table opposite the way his brother was facing, and put his hands on its wooden surface, a stern gaze being case over not only Luigi, but Geno as well. "At this point," he continued, "we're gonna need all the help we can-a get."  
"I..." Luigi mumbled, looking down at the edge of the table, "I'm-a sorry, bro, it's just... this has all come up so suddenly..."  
"It's-a not your fault, bro," Mario replied, his gaze softening, "none of us expected it— especially him escaping. All we can-a do at this stage is know that we're gonna have-a to do a bit more hands-on work to fix it."  
"Right," Geno said, his voice strong as he stood up, crossing his arms. "It was my fault for letting my guard down, and I sincerely apologize for that. Nonetheless, we can't make the same mistake again."  
"Right," Mario assured, straightening his hat and glancing over at the star spirit. "Keepin'-a straight head will-a help us reach our goal."  
"Precisely," the star concluded.  
"Geez," Luigi sighed, twiddling his thumbs and looking down at his knees, "you guys sound like you've got this whole thing planned out..."  
"Hardly!" Geno scoffed, chuckling lightly as he turned the green plumber's hat sideways over his own. "My initial plan went out the door last night, much to our dismay now."  
"Yeah, I'm-a sorry about that," Mario grumbled, lifting his hat and scratching his head.  
"Don't worry about it," the star sighed, putting a hand on Mario's shoulder, "it's nothing we can do anything about now."  
"Oh?" Luigi mused, tilting his head to the side. "What-a you talkin' about?"  
"Remember the thing Merlon gave-a me at-a the beginning of the whole 'Void' kazoo?" Mario asked, putting his hat back on.  
"Depends," Luigi replied, "which Merlon?"  
"The floaty one."  
"Ohhh, floaty Merlon."  
Geno suppressed a laugh.  
"You mean-a the robot or-wait, we left that with him," Luigi blinked.  
"Nah, that creepy chameleon made-a that. I'm-a talkin' about the 'Return Pipe' thing he gave us."  
"You mean-a that slip-a paper that warped us back there or whatever when ya messed with it enough?"  
"It was-a slip-a paper?"  
"Okay, okay, _what_ are you two talking about?" Geno piped up, motioning outward with his hands.  
"The pipe thingy you were askin' about," Luigi replied.  
"It was a slip of paper?" The star asked, lowering his hands.  
"That's-a what I just asked," Mario huffed.  
"_YES, IT WAS-A SLIP-A PAPER,_" Luigi groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration. He mumbled something in Italian before leaning back in his chair, looking up at Mario. "I last saw you with-a that thing when you were half asleep durin' our vacation last summer, I think"  
"You're kidding," Mario frowned, his brow creasing slightly.  
"I think I saw it in your bag. Y' must've stuffed it in there when we were packing for some reason."  
"Why in-a the _WORLDS_ would I have-a brought _that_ along on our Fracktailin' vacation?!"  
"Beats me. Y' like red?"  
Mario frowned, not taking kindly to his brother's joke. Luigi shrugged weakly.  
"So, wait a moment," Geno piped up again, putting a thumb on his chin and looking down at the ground before motioning out with his hands and glancing between the two brothers, "wouldn't it still be in the bag, then?"  
"Nah," Luigi shook his head, "I'm-a pretty certain I cleaned our bags out when we got back."  
"_Then where'd you put it?_" Mario and Geno suddenly asked in unison, their gazes turning towards the green-garbed plumber.  
Luigi blinked, then hunched up his shoulders in a shrug. "I dunno, that's-a my point. I'm-a pretty sure I _didn't_ see it when I was cleaning out the bags—only_maybe_ when we were actually _at_ the island." "_Island?_l Geno asked, looking up at Mario, who sighed.  
"Yes," the plumber huffed, "Pi'illo Island. We were invited there last summer..."  
"It was actually pretty nice, durin' our free time," Luigi grumbled, leaning back in his chair. "The sun overhead, the wind blowin' through your hair... Grambi, what I'd give to go back there sometime."  
"I wouldn't speak too soon, bro..." Mario mumbled in reply, standing up straight. "Where'd-a you say you put-a the bags?"  
Mario huffed, slamming his red suitcase closed. Luigi and Geno both fell silent, looking down at the red-garbed plumber and waiting for any sort of response.  
The plumber took a deep breath...  
"It's not here."  
Luigi and Geno groaned in unison, Luigi grabbing his hat off the table and putting it on, lowering his gaze, while Geno threw his arms in the air in frustration.  
"You've-a got to be kidding," Luigi groaned, laying his head on the table. "Please tell me this is some kind-a cruel joke."  
"I wish, bro," Mario grumbled in reply, getting up and turning around before sitting down on top of the bag, accidentally making the top cave in in the process. Even in the unfavorable circumstances, the three men couldn't suppress a weak laugh.  
Geno let out a sigh, leaning back and crossing his legs, putting his feet on the table and rubbing his forehead.  
"So what now?" Luigi asked, his hat falling off as he raised his head off the table.  
"Well," Geno began, lowering his hand and looking up at the ceiling, "we have a lead now, and at least that's _something_ to work off of, right?"  
"Right," Mario replied, leaning back in the suitcase and crossing his arms behind his head. "The most important thing is that-a we don't give up. If-a we do that, nobody's gonna have-a chance."  
"Nah, bro," Luigi chuckled, "I ain't heard-a once when my bro gave up on somethin' like this. 'Sides, what-a we got to lose?"  
"A lot, actually," Geno huffed, closing his eyes.  
"I was-a speakin' hypothetically, Mr. Literal," Luigi chuckled, tossing his hat at Geno.  
"And I was-a speakin' literally, Mr. Hypothetical. So we're even," Geno replied, smiling as he reached up just in time to catch the plumber's hat before it hit him.  
"Ladies, please," Mario huffed, running his hand through his hair and knocking his hat back off his head. Luigi frowned.  
"Thanks, Mayro, for save me," Geno laughed in a mock high-pitched voice.  
"Don't even start," Mario chuckled.  
"Guys, quit stalling," Luigi suddenly said in a much more serious tone, his brow somewhat furrowed. "What are we gonna do, now?"  
"Well," Geno huffed, sitting up and taking his feet off the table, "it looks like you two gotta get to packing again."  
"What?" Luigi blinked, "Why should we do that?"  
"It looks like us three are gonna have ourselves a little vacation."

-  
?

"Pablo, I swea', you're the laziest Paragoomba I eva' met."  
"I know, I know, Sayde, jeez, cut me come slack, man!"  
"It ain't in my job description, sweet'art, now get a move on before mean ol' Mista Gemp bites both our heads off."  
"I got it, I got it, dear Grambi!"  
There was a mad flapping of his wings, and several feathers flying about as Pablo made his way out of the cluttered window into and out of the even more cluttered room that was essentially him and his partner's daytime home, a large, deep green bag strap wrapped around his 'waist' that he had to wrap his feet around to keep it from falling off.  
Pablo had hard enough of a time flying as it was, but carrying all that deadweight in paper was ridiculous!  
Thank Grambi he didn't have a package today.  
The life of a mail-carrying Paragoomba wasnt an easy one, but it was the life Pablo had been living with his partner since they dropped out of Lord Bowser's army all those years ago. Yet, despite how much time had passed, the grueling days of training were still practically fresh in the Paragoomba's mind.  
He'd take a comfy hat and carrying mail over risking his life for a worthless goal any day.  
Well, he would admit that the heat of early summer _did_ make his warm, winter hat slightly less comfortable. At least it was an easy haul today.  
As the mail carrying Paragoomba flew towards Toad Town, he found his mind wandering, as it often did. This time to the clouds. Clouds were nice. They always looked so soft and fluffy... like you could just go and fall asleep on one, and it'd be the comfiest bed in all the worlds combined. Oh, but, don't try to sleep on one. Pablo had tried that once. Long story short, it hadn't ended well for anyone.  
Eventually coming to his senses, Pablo found that he was coming up on Toad Town, and slowed his flight slightly, not wanting to skip it like he had last time. It had taken a good four hours for Mister Gemp's search team to find him, and boy was Mister Gemp angry! Anybody who worked at the Post Office would swear Sayde laughed for three days straight—no joke.  
Eventually, Pablo landed atop a house with a fairly flat roof—the one he always landed on when he delivered here—and poured out the contents of his bag, spreading them out with his foot. He'd found in his experience that the majority of the Toad people didn't exactly appreciate a Goomba coming to their door, and found it best to swoop down one at a time, deliver whatever mail any individual house had, then immediately go back up to his designated spot. Sayde was even nice enough to organize the mail by which person it was going to before putting it in his bag.  
There were a few Toads that had actually learned to recognize him by his hat, but they were few and far between.  
Collecting everything for the nearest house to his current location gently in his mouth and being careful to leave no traces of saliva or teeth marks (he'd learned that lesson the hard way), Pablo scooted to the edge of the roof, preparing to take off before he stopped, looking down as a familiar figure in a pink dress with blond hair, lead by two armed red-spotted toads, walked down the street, heading towards the large castle past the north edge of town. The woman was none other than Princess Toadstool, better known as 'Peach' to her subjects.  
_If I were still in the army,_ the Paragoomba thought to himself. However, he noted, there was something floating near the Princess that she actually appeared to be _talking_ to. It was a small yellow orb with two small eyes and a mouth wearing brown shoes and with a small star on its head.  
Suddenly, both it and the Princess stopped a bit before reaching the corner, both of the armed toads in front of the two getting into a ready position with their spears forward as yelling could be heard from around the corner.  
Pablo darted back next to his bag, dropping his mail with the rest of the pile before running back to the edge of the roof just in time to see three people—two somewhat short and the other taller than both—run out into the street, the front one, wearing a read shirt and hat and blue overalls and dragging a red suitcase after him, come skidding to a halt, causing the middle one—who didn't appear to be wearing much of anything other than his blue cape, hat, and brown boots, to ram into his back. The third, and tallest of the bunch (who resembled the first spare the red parts being green and having darker colored overalls) just barely managed to stop himself from ramming into the other two, holding onto his hat and green suitcase before all three stood up, the middle one holding his hands behind his back and shrugging feebly.  
A moment later, the Toad guards leaned forward, targeting the middle one in particular before the Princess stepped forward and ushered them away. The bunch appeared to exchange a few words before all five of them, followed by one Toad (that kept poking suspiciously at the back of the blue-garbed one with his spear) and lead by the other as they continued on their way towards the castle.  
Pablo blinked, his emotions a mix of confusion and awe at what he'd just witnessed. After a moment, he fluttered back over to the pile of mail he had yet to deliver.  
_Man,_ he thought to himself excitedly as he began to make his rounds, _I gotta tell Sayde about this later!_


End file.
